


Meanwhile...

by Keranovi_of_Kastaborous



Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who & Related Fandoms, Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Gen, Meanwhile, More tags to be added, irregular updates
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-02-12
Updated: 2019-02-12
Packaged: 2019-10-27 06:53:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 840
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17761928
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Keranovi_of_Kastaborous/pseuds/Keranovi_of_Kastaborous
Summary: Meanwhile: something to mark the passage of time. But what if the meanwhile could watch you? What if it could touch you?The Thirteenth Doctor finds themself thrown into another adventure, reuniting with old friends, and dodging some old familiar enemies. But it remains to be seen if they can outrun this enemy of time. Meanwhile...





	Meanwhile...

**Author's Note:**

> Welcome, my wonderful peeps! Well this is my attempt at a fanfic that is longer that 2000 words, which I shall hopefully progress on. Expect irregular updates, and I apologize in advance if any of this is confusing, as it has been self-edited, and I am blind to my own mistakes. 
> 
> Anyways, this is an idea I’ve had popping around for a while, spurred by my love for seeing past companions interact with future Doctors, and how I think adorable Thirteen deserves time with her previous friends.
> 
> Doctor Who is owned by the BBC.

The Time Lords were many things. Of the few who knew of their existence, most would say they were like gods—the most advanced civilization in the universe—while others might say they were pompous and sticks-in-the-mud. But the one thing you would have to agree on was that the Time Lords were the only species to ever to have mastery over time. Despite the lack of humility in this statement, it was true. The Time Lords were the guardians of the web of time, watching over the universe, and protecting it from interference.

And the Time Lords did their duty. They watched over the web of time, the looming presence that was whispered among the Higher Powers and time-aware species. A civilization that could wipe galaxies from history if they so wished, who could engineer black holes and create impossible ships.

But then there came a war. It was The War. The Last Great Time War, and the War that heralded the end of the universe. The War between the Lords of Time and another species known as the Daleks. This war tore through Time,  

        _s_ _t_   _r_   _e_     _t_     _c_     _h_       _i_         _n_   _g_          

                                                                                _i t_        and shattering it into pieces. Entire galaxies and superclusters never existed, and trillions of species never crumbled to dust while suns exploded and the sky became dark. This war of Time that occurred throughout all of space and time, yet, at the end, had never even happened at all.

Within this war for Time itself, things arose. Things that made reality scream _**wrong**_ and were made from the twisted pieces of Time and That-Which-Never-Happened. There was the Nightmare Child, a creature that undid its victims, causing them to Never-Exist, and to which entire galaxies fell prey, devoured by its great Maw. The Skaro Degradations, twisted creatures of alternate timelines shoved into one, twisting together into a creature that exists simultaneously in different realities, a paradox that wrenches itself apart every moment of its existence. And then, there was the Could-Have-Been-King, who commanded an army of Meanwhiles and Neverwheres.

Meanwhile... it’s not a very scary word, and it isn’t the sort to cause you to shudder involuntarily or conjure up terrible memories. It’s just a way to simulate time, defined as the time before something happens or during an interval. What could possibly be frightening about meanwhile? Unless it’s lurking in shadows, prowling just outside your vision, in the corner of your eye, never fully seen, but felt. Then, _then_ you shudder. Used in war, meanwhile evokes terror even in Time Lords.

What is Meanwhile? Well, to put it simply, they are an effect without a cause. They can exist in all aspects of time at once—past, present, future—able to be at multiple points in its non-existential timeline at once. This entity can watch you exist, work its way through your life, observing your liner continuity until the end. It can see all your weaknesses. But this is not the truly scary part, no, the Meanwhile can _act_. It can exploit your childhood, create weakness and then pounce upon it. And it takes no time at all for this creature, for time is all the same to it.

Meanwhile... the unseen stalker, the silent killer. It hunts across your existence, the moment before catastrophe, striking when you least expect it, and using your whole life against you.

Now, the Time Lords feared Meanwhiles, along with the other horrors of the Time War, but they also learned to fight them, using weapons of anti-time, trying to destroy what did not exist in the first place. But this is not something that can be done easily, and by the end of the war, the Meanwhiles had turned the heart of the Time War to Hell with the rest of the Abominations of Time. Billions died every moment, only to be resurrected, and then killed once more; timelines erased and revived in a never ending flood of paradoxes.

Then, the End happened. The Time War was ended, locked away, cut apart from the rest of time and space so that the monstrosities within it would never touch the rest of the universe. But, before this happened—yet also after at happened—the Time War was released—ever so slightly and ever so briefly—into the rest of the universe. The Time Lords tried to escape the Time Lock, but found themselves forced back into the Time War. Back into Hell.

But, unknown to those involved, there was a silver of _something_ that escaped the Time War. An inkling of it trickled into the rest of the universe, barely more than an idea, but existing nonetheless. It was weak, cut off from the paradoxes and decimation of Time that had sustained it, but it still had the potential to do more damage than anything else in the universe. But this creature was not bound by time, and when you live outside cause, when you only effect, you can wait a very, _very_ long time.

Meanwhile...

**Author's Note:**

> Well, I hope you enjoyed the prologue! Please give me your thoughts in the comments, or tell me if you liked it with kudos! And if you see anything that needs editing please inform me and I’ll get to fixing it!
> 
> I also must acknowledge that the idea to use ‘Meanwhile’ for this villain is due to a wonderful thing I read on the ‘Could Have Been King’ by diodatilodge on wordpress. Their concept is amazing and I don’t feel I am doing such a thing justice in this story, so please go over an acknowledge the creepiness of their writing!
> 
> —> https://diodatilodge.wordpress.com/2012/09/11/the-could-have-been-king/


End file.
